BrainBlog

The day ends with the American Psychological Association (APA) appearing content to issue a press release which bears commonality with any Richard Nixon statement during the depths of the Watergate crime and cover-up --- more so than anything relating to a statement by an organization that currently represents tens of thousands of psychologists. Another shameful day for psychology in the eyes of the world.

Report Says American Psychological Association Collaborated on Torture Justification by James Risen The New York Times 30 April 2015 Link to article The text of the report

For those interested in Kolb and Whishaw's textbook, there is a new (Seventh) edition available, with a 2015 publication date: Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology by Kolb and Whishaw

A FYI link for undergraduate and graduate students seeking to do a small neuroscience/neuropsychology relevant research project: Cantab Bursary Award

A NASA interview posted today: Watch interview here . A description of the testing protocol: Read a description of the tests here Read a Task Report here .

Fischer, A.G. & Ullsperger, M. (2013). Real and fictive outcomes are processed differently but converge on a common adaptive mechanism. Neuron, 79, 1243-1255. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2013.07.006. The ability to learn not only from experienced but also from merely fictive outcomes without direct rewarding or punishing consequences should improve learning and resulting value-guided choice. Using an instrumental learning task in combination with multiple single-trial regression of predictions derived from a computational reinforcement-learning model on human EEG, we found an early temporospatial double dissociation in the processing of fictive and real feedback. Thereafter, real and fictive feedback processing converged at a common final path, reflected in parietal EEG activity that was predictive of future choices. In the choice phase, similar parietal EEG activity related to certainty of the impending response was predictive for the decision on the next trial as well. These p...

From the British Psychological Society: A lecture from October 2014 by Prof. Edgar Jones on the topic, "Shell Shock: The First World War and the Origins of Psychological Medicine" Watch the lecture here . This is a very informative historical presentation about the topic.

BBC Front Row's interview with Julianne Moore included a description of how she prepared for her role as Alice: Listen here

This reference (with free-access .pdf) has been getting some media attention this week and is a good read: Flinker, A. et al. (2015). Redefining the role of Broca's area in speech. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1414491112 article pdf The authors report one of their findings that when the motor cortex is activated during spoken responses, Broca’s area is "surprisingly silent". They provide additional information about activity of Broca's area - relative to motor cortex - depending upon the novelty of what is spoken. The study used electrical recording from the cortical surface in a sample of seven participants who were to undergo neurosurgical treatment for refractory epilepsy. The authors note that results were consistent to the presentation of patients with cortical lesions that are limited to Broca’s - it is typical for this presentation not to cause a Broca’s aphasia but to result in an acute, transient mutism. The authors conclude that Broca's...

I am teaching a course in Social Psychology this term for the MSc online program where I have an affiliation. Although social neuroscience has had quite the growth over the past decade and we all get experience in the neurobehavioral syndromes resulting from certain types of brain disease and damage, the course has been a good reminder to me that just about any graduate student in psychology and in neuropsychology would benefit by a good course in core social psychological principles as it relates to normal behavior by mentally and neurologically healthy adults.

Here is the obituary for Dr. Pribram, which appeared on his website recently: Dr. Karl Pribram

An informative, good read: "Can Video Games Fend Off Mental Decline?" by Clive Thompson The New York Times Sunday Magazine 26 October 2014 read the full feature article here Website for Akili, mentioned in the piece: Akili

Dumb, unethical, foolish, bad - NHS dementia plan to give GPs cash for diagnoses criticised as ‘ethical travesty’ NHS condemned as ‘odious’ after introducing scheme whereby GPs given £55 each time they identify the disease in a patient The Guardian 21 October 2014 Read the full article here

A Consensus on the Brain Training Industry from the Scientific Community Posted on the Stanford Center on Longevity website 20 October 2014 Read the statement here The authors and signatories may over-extend themselves in stating that they represent "the scientific community", but the points they raise are important to add to the conversation.

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded for locating brain’s GPS John O’Keefe, May-Britt and Edvard Moser found how the brain creates a map to enable us to navigate our environment The Guardian 06 October 2014 Read article here

Released today from Alzheimer's Disease International (ADI): World Alzheimer Report 2014 Access the report here

My new column for NeurologyTimes.com: Perhaps the Nose Knows: UPSIT and Alzheimer Disease Anthony H. Risser, Ph.D. 12 September 2014 Perhaps the Nose Knows

"Where is the brain in the Human Brain Project?" Nature 03 September 2014 full text content here

The Brain, within its Groove Runs evenly--and true-- But let a Splinter swerve-- 'Twere easier for You-- To put a Current back-- When Floods have slit the Hills-- And scooped a Turnpike for Themselves-- And trodden out the Mills-- -Emily Dickinson In the world of MOOCs, few courses have shown the creativity of purpose and the dedicated following as has the course "Modern and Contemporary American Poetry" by Dr. Al Filreis of the University of Pennsylvania and Director of its wonderful Kelly Writers House . Few courses, in real life or online, have such a dedicated teacher as Al. The course, part of Al's regular teaching at Penn in its English Department, has been presented in MOOC form at this time of year in 2012 and in 2013 at Coursera. The ten-week course is back, opening later this week to over 30,000 students, myself included (third timer). Week after week, this likely remains the largest single collection of dedicated students reading and discus...

The British Psychological Society Division of Neuropsychology will hold its annual conference on the 28th of November in London. Here is the conference webpage: webpage Prior to the conference, they will hold their first half-day pre-conference workshop. The workshop, about Multiple Sclerosis (MS) - will be held on the 27th.